Angel: a Maximum Ride Adventure by Fang
by indulgeomihi
Summary: Only two people know fang's mission. Fang himself, and the person who sent him the note. Both of them are mutants. One sees the bonds of people, the other sees much more. Takes place during Angel. bear with me at the start, its worth it. not too cliche.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

I absolutely hate being restrained. It's one of my two worst fears. After spending most of my life in a cage, and the other part running from people who wanted to put me back INTO a cage, even the thought of it will piss me off. I mean, there's just something about that feeling of powerlessness that just makes you want to, like, scream and explode and beat the living shit out of someone all at the same time. God it's so effing annoying. And then what will REALLY earn you a place in my own special version of hell, is if you put one of my own, my Flock, in danger. Try that, and I will break every bone in your body, and then toss you into the closest volcano I find. Point of the matter, don't put me in those situations. Or you die.

But I guess my captors didn't know that.

Today, like the previous five, I'm clamped down onto a stretcher in another School, unable to move most parts of my body, and watching Max through a window getting stabbed by needle after needle of some lab crap. God, it was absolutely revolting. And I know what you're probably thinking.

_Dude, you've been in here for five days. You're FANG! When's the escape?_

Max would be thinking the same thing. But don't worry, I have a plan. It involved the security passcode I memorized earlier today, when my whitecoat "masters" were being careless. There was a keypad on my wrist clamp, which I could reach if I bent my fingers the right way. Tough, but not impossible. Trouble was, the School security system gives you only one try.

Focusing my energy, I concentrated on slowing my heart rate, so no involuntary fight-or-flight movement would foil my escape. My breathing got slower, and my muscles relaxed. And then I was ready.

I slowly moved my fingers around, searching for the two. Uhmmmmmmmm, there. The number appeared on the keypad screen. Great, five to go. My index finger touched the two again, then the eight. I kept my movements slow, hoping the security cameras wouldn't pick up on my motions. My fingers moved down to the four, then the three, and then the eight one more time. The keypad flashed green, and the clamps hissed open. Now for the restraining belts. Pausing every so often to listen for intruders, I silently undid the Kevlar material. And then I was free.

Keeping my stealth, I inched towards the door and touched a handle. Immediately, a klaxon horn split the air, making me jump back a few paces. Okay, no more stealth now. I grabbed a low pipe on the ceiling and heaved my body up. Five seconds later a couple whitecoats rushed through the door. They stopped and stared at my empty bed for a few seconds, and then around the room. For some reason they never looked up. Sucks to be them. I jumped down on one of them, ramming my feet onto their shoulders. He crumpled immediately, and then I charged the next guy. He looked a little bit tougher, not by much though. I threw a few punches, he blocked some, then my third one hit him straight in the stomach. He staggered backward a few steps, then I shot him a roundhouse kick, and he was knocked out. Too easy.

Scientists dealt with, I ran through the open door and spread my wings. ( yeah WINGS. I'll explain later.)

Hands reached up at me and I dodged with ease. Then the guys with the guns came. I flew faster, heading for the door to Max's room at the end of the hallway. Almost there, 50 feet, 40 , 30, 20, I put my hands out, feeling oddly like Superman, ready to break that worthless sheet of metal (yeah I can do that too) that kept me away from my family.

Wham!

I hit the door, and it smashed right off its hinges. I pulled my wings in and charged in…..to an empty lab. I stopped short, and from the corner I heard a tiny hiss, and time slowed down. Shit! Tranquilizer! My muscles turned to jelly, I lost my balance and fell on the stone cold floor. The blackness slowly took me. My vision narrowed, quickly blotting out everything except for the one figure that appeared in the middle of the room.

Brown hair, tan wings, determined face. Unmistakably my Maximum Ride. Only one difference: her eyes. They were burning bloodred, with pure hate. "Do you enjoy betrayal, Fang?" she asked, her ice cold voice barely higher than a whisper. My world went dark.

And then I was falling.

My eyes snapped open, and the creepy School was gone. I was back in the mountains with the hawks, flying under the warm summer moonlight. I spread my wings, death black, and shot downward, finding a perch among the rocks. Bleh, the nightmares were becoming more and more common. All my time was spent thinking, about Max, the flock, Angel, and my choice. The note I got, it absolutely terrified me, which is oh so hard to do. But it reinforced the one undeniable fact: I had to leave the flock. And my mind flew back to Max, how I left her, my crappy letter, everything. Hope she would figure out someday, that this was the only thing I could do to save them. And I hope she would know, then, how much I loved her, and how much it hurt.

What the hell, Fang? Since when am I emotional? I took a deep breath, wiped the sweat off of my face, and took off again.

Chapter One

When you tell someone, "Hey I'm going to Ohio to look for some mutant freaks," they're like, "WTF? Why would any mutant freak live in Ohio? It's like the most boring place on earth!" I personally have nothing against Ohio, (Cedar Point FTW) except for the cold. I HATE cold. You have to put on a bajillion layers of clothes to not be cold, and then you end up looking like some crazy ass Martian. ANDD it makes it so freaking hard for us birdkids to fly. Bottom line, Fang no le gusta. So it really made me wonder that why my first candidate for my new "flock" happened to live in ol' Buckeye Ohio.

I'd been stopping in Missouri for dinner. Nothing fancy, just a couple of cheeseburgers, two large fries, and two cups of Coke(a-cola. U bad minded people). And a reassurance for the law abiding citizens reading, I _bought_ all my food, using some of the money I took from my old house in Arizona.

Anyway, after promising the manager I wasn't some teen runaway, I threw away my trash and stepped out, walking toward a secluded spot. I was in the middle of nowhere though, so secluded is kind of relative. But, technicality aside, once I was sure that no one was watching, I unfurled my 14 foot wings, and let the setting sun wash over them.

Then I jumped into the air and sped upward toward the heavens.

Gods, flying is one of the few things in life you can do over and over and never get bored of. There's just something about moving among the clouds, and enjoying the amazing view offered by the sky that just clears everything from your head. It's simply breathtaking.

I set my course northeast, and soared away, my powerful wings carrying me easily at almost 250mph.

Now you probably noticed how I said NEW flock back there. Yes I had an old flock once. It was me (I'm 15 btw), Iggy (15), Nudge (12), Gazzy aka the Gasman who is 9 (Reason for nickname is on my blog), my Angel (7), and Maximum Ride, my best friend, our caretaker, and my first, true and only love. And whatever crap people tell you about "Don't worry. There are other birds in the sky (hehe) ," DON'T BELIEVE IT! You will NEVER frekain forget a first love.

Me and Max weren't always "together" though. That only happened after the whole underwater base G.I. Joe thing. First it was all six of us, recombinant human-avian DNA life forms, running (flying actually) around the world after one of the whitecoats who made us (Max's dad) helped us escape from our lab. We all grew up together, and Max, being the oldest by a day or something, became kind of like the leader/momma figure. I was her second in command. And if she was the queen, I was the army. I'm the strongest, and fastest, and the best fighter out of all of us, and it was always my job to make sure that none of my flock got hurt. Especially Angel.

Yes, she may be our smallest mutant, but she hit some kind of "genetic jackpot" and got a crapload of superpowers. This, unfortunately, gives her a big - major problem causing - head…a LOT. But I still love her. Even after the betrayals and everything, she's still my little sister, and it'll always be MY job to look out for her. So yeah.

Anything I missed on us, check my blog. Or you can check one of Max's books. Actually, I would recommend that, because she's got pretty much our whole story together, romantic moments included (girls….), and she's a much better writer than I am. See, I'm that mutant kid who doesn't really talk much, so I kinda suck at it. But I'm getting better, I hope :)

Anyway. Past my little memory lane vacation, it's nighttime again, and I'm going in for a little recon. Victim in question is this kid called Ratchet, one of the Gen 77 mutants who responded to the call on my blog. We set a password and I agreed to come and visit him. Give him something like a job interview I guess. However, I've been in wayyy too many battles to just walk into someone else's territory (especially a big city) with nothing but wings and a few genetic tricks.

My enhanced eyes had no trouble making out silhouettes on the dark roads. I scanned down the empty ones, searching for the shadows that announced a hidden bearer. There. On possibly the darkest one, a group of people emerged from a building, making a very large, if unsuccessful, attempt to not be seen. But my bird's eye view revealed all, as well as something that they didn't see: a police car waiting around the corner, ready to get the drop on them. I zeroed in on the officer in the car. He was in full on cop mode, completely focused on the entrance to the alleyway. Five seconds later he picked up his radio, and whispered something. In the alley, one of the shapes froze. He muttered something to his friends, and they dove back into the shadows. I zoomed in a little bit more, and I could just barely see a pair of aviator sunglasses covering his eyes. Ok, sunglasses at night…Mutant Alert! The sunglasses kid walked forward a couple paces forward just stood there, waiting. I figured this was a good time to grab a seat, so I dove down to one of the shorter buildings, and stood, watching with interest.

After five minutes, the cop, obviously tired of waiting for his targets, left the car, and walked to the alley. He saw the one kid, and pulled out his taser right quick. "Who are you?"

The kid wasn't even fazed. "Come here and find out."

Adults often underestimate us…then they get hurt. And Officer Ohio was about to get very nice beating. He edged slowly toward his opponent, keeping his weapon up. The distance between them decreased second by second, and then they were less than five feet apart.

"Take it easy, son," the cop said, aiming his taser at the kid's chest. The kid lunged, and Officer Ohio fired…at thin air.

The kid had moved a split-second before, and now he ducked down, going in for a sweep. The officer jumped back, and delivered a roundhouse kick to the kid's vulnerable head. But it missed again. The guy had moved a split-second before, like some crazy spider sense was telling what to do. And it pissed the cop off. He pulled out all the stops, and started coming at him from every angle, punch from the left, sidekick to the stomach, over and over again, a barrage that would have beaten down any normal criminal. Just not this kid. He dodged every single one of them, and didn't even break a sweat. Finally, Officer Ohio made his big mistake. He threw a punch at the kid's arm. The guy just grabbed it, right in his palm, held it there, and punched him in the stomach. The breath left Officer Ohio with an _Oof!_ Cop went down.

Kid wonder stood up, and looked at him with a kind of sorry expression. His eyes flashed to the shadows, and back, and then he bent down and whispered, "Don't mess with us again." Then he clapped the surprised police officer on his temples, knocking him out.

"Clear," he called.

His friends slowly crept out from their hiding places and stared at the cop.

"Nice job," one of them said. And then the little boy-band walked away, leaving me both disgusted and quite impressed.

This new kid was going to be an interesting recruit.


	2. Chapter 2

**So apparently we're supposed to put the disclaimer on EVERY CHAPTER, unless we wanna get into truble with U.S. Legal system. so. Once again.**

**NO SOY JAMES PATTERSON. I'm not his mother, his brother, or his son. COMPRENDES? all Maximum Ride characters belong to him, or whoever he credited. i do not own ANYTHING.**

**i don't wanna do this every chapter, i REALLY don't.**

**Concerning the story, guess who's BACK! Fang's got a secret source :) And ur gonna hear more about this not so mysterious death note. READ AND ENJOY!**

**oh, and before u start, i want you to think of your FAVORITE THING IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD. just keep it in your head.  
**

Chapter 2

_fang. _

_Fang. _

_Fang! _

_FANG!_

_"_Whaaa?_" _I jumped out of my hotel bed, ready to fight the unseen intruder.

"_FANG! Relax, it's me" _I sighed in relief.

"_Hey Angel," _I thought, "_How are you guys_"

"_Not too good, but safe. We're in Arizona with Max's mom_" she replied.

For those of you who are confused as to why I'm _THINKING _words but not _SAYING _them, Angel, being that genetic jackpot, has the ability to hear people's thoughts, and sometimes send her own. Although I didn't know she could send them this far.

"_Yeah, I didn't either. I think it's because I know your mind really well, and I REALLY want to talk to you_" (- crazy mind reader. MY crazy mind reader. )

And for the first time in days, I felt really happy. At least one of the flock actually missed me. I wasn't so sure about her mind comment though. Could be good, or bad.

"_It's good, don't worry_," came that angelic voice.

We couldn't keep this small talk up for long, though. Sooner or later we had to get to the real issue. I, like my ex-girlfriend, preferred sooner.

"_How's Max?"_

One part about speaking with thoughts is that you can feel the other person's emotion a little bit. Makes it nearly impossible to lie, even though I wanted nothing more than for Angel to lie to me. But her thoughts pretty much turned to clinical depression after I asked.

"_Not good. She's been hanging alone for the past week, just, thinking, I guess. She misses you so much. And she hates you for leaving, making the choice for her. Dylan's being as annoying as ever, trying to kiss her every chance he gets-"_

My throat constricted, and I felt anger pouring into my blood. Dylan was this OTHER bird kid created by another crazy scientist, who was hanging out with us to learn how to be a flying mutant freak. And get this, he was designed to be Max's "perfect other half" which of course complicated things between us, because I was her perfect other half, screw science. I wanted nothing more tie his wings behind his back, and then toss him headfirst off the biggest cliffs I could find.

"-_but Max beats him up whenever he tries (_relief, pride, and sadness. Worst combo ever_). I think he's mainly doing it to learn how to fight_."

Effective. Dylan was a smart guy, even though I hated him so much.

"_Have you been doing what I asked?_" I questioned.

"M_hmm. I'm trying my best. It's working a little_."

What I asked, was for her to watch out for Max, just to make it easier. So like, no going to her for stupid things, agree. That stuff. She might be tougher than any other girl in the world, but I wouldn't want anyone going through this alone. Especially her.

"_Oh, Jeb and Dr. Gunther-Hagen stopped by a few days ago._"

Jeb was an evil guy turned good guy turned evil and then good again. He also was Max's dad. Dr. Hans Gunther-Hagen was this creeper who tried experimenting on us by contaminating our water. We didn't like either of them. So Max actually allowing them in our house surprised me.

"_What'd they want," _I asked.

"_They were talking about plans when the apocalypse happens. How Max should be a queen or something. And they were talking about some Generation 77 kids. Like, we should all find them. And then Max can lead them_."

"_Really?_" If their plan for Max was the same as the note's plan for me, then maybe they knew who sent it. It could even be one of them. And if it was, they would be dead in the near future.

"_Fang?_" Angel asked, when she realized my thoughts had drifted off.

"_Yeah sweetie?_"

"_Why did you leave?_"

Golden question. Even I didn't know the true answer to that. I could have discussed it with the flock, decided what was safer. But the note. Something about it, I knew it was to dangerous for me to stay back home. Crap. The image of the note was popping up in my head. I thought of everything, anything besides it.

Then I felt Angel's gasp of surprise.

Too late.

**A/N: hmmmm. this is gonna be interesante. **

**OK. Now remember how i asked you to think of your most FAVORITE THING EVER?**

**well. see that little button below this? with the speech bubble that says "review"**

**if u click it, whatever you thought of will appear in front of u. unless ur like, on the edge of a building or something. then it'll appear somewhere else, but CLOSE. **

**POINT BEING, REVIEW! I'll name it with the next chapter.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Yeah, this chapter is a little short. It's kinda like a filler, cuz i don't wanna reveal too much about Fang's note yet. and its not very well written, cuz i had a crazy **

**writers block, AND a very bad day. But w/e. this chapter aside. READ. and REVIEW. seriously. i NEEED FEEDBACK. **

**Disclaimer: No soy James Patterson. No era James Patterson. No voy a ser james patterson. - EVERYONE UNDERSTAND? books not mine, characters not mine. just read the fanFICTION. and enjoy it.  
**

Chapter 3

"_What is that?_" she sounded so afraid. Think about it. If it terrified me, it would probably be ten times worse on her. And she'd only seen the first part.

"_It's nothing, Ange. Go on, go back to sleep._"

"_Fang,_" she pleaded, "_Is this why you left?_"

I was so ready to lie, so she wouldn't be so scared. I couldn't have her scared. And then I realized she could read my mind. So I had to tell the truth.

"_Yes, Angel_," I thought, trying to keep my voice level.

"_Who sent it?_" Her voice was getting softer. I got more emotion instead. Fear being a primary one.

"_I don't know,_"

I refused to think about Jeb and Dr. HGH.

"_Is Max in danger?_" More fear, less words.

Probably.

"_I hope not. But if they're serious, and if I keep doing what I'm doing, they might leave her alone_."

Right. Since when did that happen in our lives?

"_What do we do?_" her voice was barely louder than a whisper in my mind. So, so scared.

This was a part of Angel I hadn't seen in a long time. Even though she played leader really well, and was tougher than most adults, she was still my 6 year old sister. And right now she needed a guide, someone to show her what to do. And if it wasn't Max, it was going to have to be me.

"_Well, what you're going to do is relax, ok? Forget about the letter. I'm in Ohio, looking for mutants. You guys stay home, and stay safe. Don't trust anyone but the flock."_

"OK" Her voice was returning, a little.

"_And there's one other thing I want you to do._" I'd toyed with this idea for a while, on and off, trying to convince myself that it was for the good of the flock.

"_What_?" she asked.

"_Keep an eye on Dylan. Whenever you can. Watch how he reacts, how he behaves, how he talks. Everything_."

"_OK._"

I could feel Angel's stifled curiosity, and I promised her it was for a good reason.

And then she had to go.

We said our goodbyes, I promised her I would try to visit soon, etc.

I tried to go back to sleep, afterward, but I couldn't stop thinking, and worrying about all the flock, and Angel, and Max. How much I cared. How I wish I didn't have to be alone, with them hating me. How much I loved them.

"_I love you too, Fang."_

The soft voice just barely touched the tip of my mind, but I heard it. And for the tiniest second, I swear I saw this little line of white light coming from my chest, flowing out the window, linking me to some unseen person in the Southwest. So me, being curious, touched it with the edge of my finger.

It was pure, unconditional love.

**hmmm. start wondering about fang. he's not insane, btw.  
**


	4. Author's Note PLEASE DON'T SKIP!

**A/N: I'm really sorry abt this, I HATE making chapters only for notes, but I just wanted to clear something up. So earlier this week I was reading another maximum ride story, I think it was Black Hawk or War Eagle(ur an awesome writer), or it could've been Fang's Army. Anyway, one of them. Point is, one of the characters had the power to see "connections" between people, which are shown with colored lines. And, as seen in my previous chapters, this is one of fang's new undiscovered powers. I wanna put it out there that I DIDN'T "steal" the idea, I actually came up with it myself BEFORE I read the story, and so the similarities are purely coincidental. Sorry, I didn't mean to pose, so there. But I suppose great minds think alike :)**

**And I would also like to apologize for my ridiculous updating schedule. I haven't actually logged in for the past like 2 weeks or something. Sorry, I really meant to write, but I'm completely loaded with hw and teensh*t and such.**

**Life's a b*tch and high school is her sister. Sucks, but we figure it out sooner or later. So on the upside, It's easter weekend, and I got TIME. Which means, I'm uploading a legit CHAPTER today.**

**My few readers, enjoy. Please give me feedback. Don't hold back. be as brutal as u possibly can. Screenwriting and writing here are so different, and sometimes i don't think i am really writing down all i can see, so all u experienced guys, help me out. I really wanna get good at this.**

**Enjoy, and thanks for reading/supporting.**

**M.P.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Yeah, i haven't updated in FOREVER. sorry about that. but i finally got time, and this week is the week of the most EASY exams in the **

**world, meaning we don't get HOMEWORK so i have FREE TIME! life is good! so anyway, this chapter is quite fillerish, just meant to **

**cover Ratchet meeting Fang, and to set up my next chapter, which is really informative. So enjoy, review(as brutally as possible), and **

**if you can, give me ideas for later chapters. **

**P.S. Song at the beginning is to Tik-Tok by Ke$ha  
**

Chapter Four

Woke up in the morning feeling really sh*tty

Grabbed my jacket went out the door ready to SCOUT THE CITY

Sucks to be me - I've been on recon for the past 2 weeks

Cuz in case you don't remember, I'm a MUTANT FREAK!

^ soundtrack to my life.

I've been pressed against this same brick wall for HOURS. I had to think of SOMETHING to do. Luckily, my little mutant friend had just ditched his gang, so I was hoping for some action real soon.

It was around midnight. The air was COLD (stupid Ohio). The place I was in probably could qualify as a ghetto in some people's heads. Seriously. It was chalk full of old stuff that people just left there: mattresses, random spray painted objects, spray paint cans that had been USED to paint the aforementioned objects, a REFRIGERATOR, etc. Weird. Very weird.

Soft footsteps broke my thinking moment. I turned toward the sound. It was definitely the guy, no one else could be that quiet. I crouched down, minimizing my exposure. I only had to show myself right when I attacked. The footsteps were almost to me.

Three, Two, One…..Go!

My arm whipped out of the darkness, snatching at an arm that HAD to be there, except it wasn't. Then I realized something. The footsteps stopped at One. _CRAP!_

A knife appeared my throat, from behind, and before I could even think of what to do, the bearer shoved me up against the brick wall, keeping the knife pressed to my skin.

"No one sneaks up on me, friend," Dang, this guy was GOOD. He had the voice, AND the action to back it up.

"Been looking for you….and from what I hear, you've been looking for me too. "

A thread appeared at his chest. Like the one that appeared at mine before. I stared at it. There was an amber orange there. The feeling of victory. But faint. It was masked mostly by black. Hidden. Fear. I could feel it. His bravado was just an act. This guy was terrified of me.

Then he looked down, trying to find what I was looking at. Distracted.

Quickly, almost too fast for eyes, I grabbed his knife, and twisted it away. The amber disappeared.

"Don't say a word Ratchet," I whispered, "your friends can't know I'm here."

Yeah, two can play that game, buddy.

Confusion. Apprehension. Then, a decision.

He studied my face, looking for idk what. Then he nodded.

"Don't do anything stupid," I cautioned. Then I let him free.

Relief.

"Password?" I questioned.

"Maximum"

Ratchet was in.

I now officially have my first new flock member.

**REVIEWW! TELL ME WHAT I NEED TO DO TO MAKE IT BETTER!**

**M.P.  
**


	6. Chapter 5

**Here we go! chapter five delivered finally by yours truly. here we get to see ratchet's backstory. ik i didn't explain his powers yet, and i'm working on that. but REVIEWW! tell me what you think. too cliched? did i do a horrible job personifying fang's powers? tell me please. i still only have ONE review. be nice u guys :) **

Chapter Five

There was time to kill between now and the arrival of my next candidate, so I figured it would be a good idea to do two things. 1) Get to know more about Ratchet. Cuz if we are going to survive, then we as a flock have to know each other better than Max knows a chocolate chip cookie. And 2) Get a handle on this creepy people thread thing.

So, back to goal number one, what's the best way to chat someone up? Feed them. Food is mutant's biggest weakness. And mutants who live on the streets are generally half starved to death. Perfect combo.

Ratchet and I were at this run down diner, sitting in the darkest section, sipping the poorest excuse for coffee that I've ever tasted. But, it was sustenance, so after a bit, Ratchet started telling me a little about his past.

"I was pretty normal to begin with. Then, a couple of days after I turned ten, a girl came up to me when I was walking home from school. She was in her twenties, like maybe 24 tops. I don't remember much else about her anymore, except, she had this really unique look on her face. Like, sad….but determined. And her hair. It was jet black, not too long, with these insane purple streaks." He paused, trying to think of a better description.

I looked at his light line. Deep, longing blue, and black. Sadness, and fear.

Ratchet gave up with the description, and continued on with his story.

"There were two other people with her, on either side. I swear they could have been male model's if they wanted to. But anyway, the girl introduced herself as Ariana, and told me to come with her, because she was going to 'help me'. Yeah, I had common sense, so did my best to get the hell away. But I had barely run five feet before those model guys caught me. They stuffed me in a bag, and when I got out, I was strapped to an operation table. Like, the hospital kind. And that girl, Ariana, was standing next to me, holding my hand, pressing something to it. She whispered 'Join him. He'll keep you safe. And you can help bring back what he lost.' I was just looking at her like wtf. Then I blacked out."

In all my mutant years, I'd never heard of this before. Every single one of us that I know was born and raised in a test tube. The fact that Ratchet actually had a real life to come back to, was, amazing. And the fact that the whitecoats actually TOOK him away from his normal life? They deserved to suffer. Each and every one of them. One question, though.

"What happened afterward?"

"I woke up back at home, in the middle of the night. Like I'd been there all along. Perfectly normal, nothing out of the ordinary. Then, I remembered that thing Ariana put in my hand before I passed out. I looked. It was a silver necklace, with two angels engraved on it. A guy and a girl. The guy looked reserved, and masked, with dark wings. The other looked happy, and free, and her wings were light. I remember looking it over, trying to figure out. I didn't see anything, at first. But then on the back, there were these indents. They looked pretty cool, so I held them up to my room light, wishing I could see better. And then, I felt this little shock in my eye, like a spark, and the indents became bigger. Now they looked like letters, and words. They were instructions, for me. There was a phrase written at the end. Apparently I was supposed to meet someone who knew it, and give the necklace to them. So for the next four years, I spent most of my time trying to figure out who this person was. I checked with pretty much every person I'd ever talked to, and after my mom kicked me out, I combed the streets. But I never found them"

Ratchet finished his tale, then took a sip of his coffee. I barely noticed. I'd been keeping my head down for most of his talking, trying to listen. Something about it rung a bell, but I didn't know what. I glanced up at him. His face wasn't showing much, but his light line was crazy bright. Four colors showed, blue, orange, red, and black. I had no idea what they meant. I was just staring like some creeper, watching them. Then it changed to grey.

I felt his eyes on me, so I looked up again.

"Who's she," he asked.

**REVIEWWREVIEWREVIEW!**

**M.P.  
**


	7. Chapter 6

**I know i haven't been able to update in a while. and i probably won't be updating a LOT for another month of so. i'm really sorry about that guys, but i'll definitely turn out a few chapters whenever i can. **

**Another thing, i'm really sorry about the general fillerishness of these chapters. I just have to get past all the introductions and stuff so i can really get started. I just have to include them because some are REALLY significant to the plot. But i promise, give me maybe two or three more chapters and it'll start getting better. **

**So for now, just reviewreviewreview(be BRUTALLLL! I really need to know what to work on. )**

**Disclaimer: Guess who's middle aged, has brown hair, and wears glasses? JP, not me. GET IT? copyright laws...  
**

Chapter 6

"Who," I responded.

Ratchet gestured through the window, as if it was obvious.

"That chick over there. She has your name scribbled on a post-it."

I squinted in that direction.

Barely, just BARELY, could I make out a figure approaching from two blocks away. And Ratchet could see what she's holding.

Dam freaking impressive.

I walked outside, waving her down. But when I turned her direction, she wasn't there. I looked around, up, down, left, sideways. Still no sign of her.

"Hey," a voice whispered in my ear.

Now, usually when some stranger does that, you'd spin around, give a shriek or two, and then run away screaming 'PEDOPHILE!" But, I am the most emotionless mask you've never met, AND I've been trained to fight better then Chuck Norris (I might exaggerate a little, but come on, apart from not being able to blow bubbles with beef jerky, I'm pretty sure I had him matched.)

I still spun around like a ballet dancer though.

The girl in front of me was Nudge times ten. Perfectly preppily plaid, modest skirt, designer bag, perfect nails, good hair. The whole deal. And in her hand was a yellow Post-It, with my name written on the front, just as Ratchet said.

"Star," I asked.

"Yup," she replied, popping the 'p' just like Max always did.

Here comes a light line. The shining silver thread appeared between me and her, connected at our chests. Oh shit, now I have to start being careful. I'd only ever seen a full light line between me and Ratchet(who was a guy) and I tended to stare at them a lot. Might be a problem with a girl…..

I brushed the thought aside, returning my focus to the completely unnecessary/stupid concept of social interaction.

"Password?"

"6459" (not random. think of a number pad…and then think of the last three numbers. No I don't need therapy. Yes I need my girlfriend back. Not gonna happen. Back to story.)

"Correct," was my response.

I ushered her to the diner. Cue questions.

"So what do I have to do for this audition? Is there a big test? I ACE tests! Are there other people coming? Can I talk to them?" She was Nudge, no, WORSE than Nudge. How do u get these girls to stop talking?

"_Please shut up,_" I thought desperately.

My mental pleading had absolutely no effect. She just kept on firing question after question, like bullets.

Then she saw Ratchet.

She shut up.

Star's ice blue eyes surveyed my flock member with a look similar to one that a person might give dirty underwear….or Max's cooking. Ratchet's look more or less mirrored hers.

The tension in the room was almost visible, and I knew I had to do something. But dissolving bad feelings usually required talking, which I wasn't an absolute pro at. I guess we all have to try something new sometime, though.

I clapped my hands on their shoulders, feeling Ratchet and Star's mutual resentment run like sparks through my body. I felt kind of irrationally annoyed. But I continued.

"So, Star. This is Ratchet. Ratchet, Star. Star, if you join us, him, you and me will be working together."

Star's evil death glare had subsided, thankfully. Addressing Ratchet, she quickly asked, "What can you do?"

Nice enough.

"Amped up senses," Ratchet responded calmly.

The conversation felt slightly stilted. It might have been because I still had my hands on their back. Slightly awkward… I removed them.

Star immediately turned toward the menu.

"Excuse me," she immaculately asked the cashier, "Can I have a vanilla milkshake?"

The lady responded, "Sorry hon, we don't have milkshakes here. Just sushi and coffee, like our name."

I don't think the cashier noticed the ice fire that now burned in Star's eyes. I barely caught it. But the small part I did see held a lot of general pissed-offness. I sincerely hoped my next candidate wasn't a spoilt rich brat.

"Fine. I'll have a coffee, and five orders of sushi."

The lady went to go put the coffee together.

Looking at me, Star asked, "you're paying, right?"

I nodded.

"Good."

Returning her azul gaze to our cashier, she commanded, "Bring the sushi to table five when it's ready."

With that, she grabbed her drink and marched to our table, with me and Ratchet following behind.

Once we sat down, she asked us where we were from.

Ratchet told his story first, omitting the parts with Ariana for some reason. I told my watered down lie.

Then she told us hers.

"I was born normal, with no-nonsense Christian parents. They're control freaks, so I never really had much freedom. I've been going to Catholic school since age three. Stupidest place ever invented. Teachers want you to behave like this, act like this, think like this, you know how it is. All of them are just assholes, really. And I made sure they knew about it, too. (She smiled when she said this) So I got kicked out a lot."

Star paused, gathering her thoughts.

When I was 13, I remember getting really really sick. I thought it was food poisoning, because I had a really funny lunch that day and I remember taking some pills from our nurse. None of them worked. I was stuck at home for at least a month or two. And when I got better I kind of figured out that I was faster than everyone. So I used them to help people out, like in fights or whatever. After I got kicked out of Saint Nancy's School, I got your message, and came to school here."

Immediately after Star finished her story, she turned the subject to our 'special powers.'

One overall thought running through my head during most of our conversation: Star was a dominant chick. I mean, I'd always thought the Catholic ones were supposed to be sweet and innocent, but Star was like Nudge and Max put together: she would not shut up, and she spared absolutely no thought for people's opinions of her. With this in mind, I avoided mentioning her loudness/talking problem. Ratchet, however, had no such qualms.

After about the third time she interrupted him, he mutant screamed, "Dude, shut UP. You're so annoying."

The conversation went pretty downhill from there.

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